During the attack, the 33-year-old former partner of glamour model Katie Price, grabbed a man by the neck and "shook him around", the court heard.

Witnesses said they heard Bowers shouting racist language but when challenged he told them: "Don't accuse me of being racist, my father's black."

Other witnesses said somebody else may have shouted the abuse. When arrested Bowers told police that he was "eight out of 10 drunk" with 10 being a state of total drunkenness.

He had been due to stand trial today accused of two counts of assault on separate victims and one of harassment - all allegedly racially aggravated.

But today Bowers, who wore a grey shirt, waistcoat and tie in court, admitted one count of common assault and one of threatening behaviour, both without any racial element. Judge Stephen Holt ordered that he compete 120 hours of unpaid work for the community. He must also pay £1,000 in legal costs.

Prosecutor John Farmer said the other charges would not be proceeded with. Mr Farmer said the incident happened after 5am on June 2 in Prince of Wales Road, Norwich's nightclub district.

Kevin Molloy, mitigating, said that Bowers was "many degrees away from somebody who could be deemed racist". He added that his grandfather is Jamaican.

A spokesman for Bowers said after the hearing: "Dane Bowers has been found not guilty of any racial elements of the allegation made against him... He is upset that it's taken this long to clear his name and obviously the attached stigma of racism affected him workwise, and was in any case always a bizarre allegation given that Dane's father is black and Dane himself is mixed race."